The European Union has finalised a series of measures to promote regional cooperation between Western Balkan countries totalling 272.8 million euro for the period 2012-2013, the bloc's executive said on Wednesday.The funds will support cooperation with international financial institutions to mobilise funding, help develop civil society, support education schemes such as student mobility programmes, and help beneficiaries meet the requirements for EU membership and align their standards with the EU, the European Commission said in a statement. The funding earmarked comes under the 2012-2013 Multi-beneficiary and Cross-Border programmes of the EU's Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA).The total pre-accession funding for the period 2007-2013 stands at 11.5 billion euro. Source: Seenews.com.